Christianity and your school

Welcome to this week's message from the Church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

I want you to turn with me this morning in your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 22, one verse out of Proverbs 22, verse 6, and then turn and mark your Bibles in Matthew chapter 18.

Proverbs 22 · chapter mention Proverbs 22:6 Matthew 18 · chapter mention

Those first seven verses in Matthew 18, where Jesus is talking about the importance of children.

He really is.

And how important it is that we do not prevent children coming unto the Lord.

Can I get an amen?

And that we do not hinder children from growing in the Lord.

It's powerful.

It really is in Matthew 18.

And so if you're here this morning, you do not have a worship guide, would you please raise your hand?

We want to make sure everybody's got a worship guide.

And let me let me please invite you, if you have not heard the first two messages, Christianity and marriage, it was it not because I preached it, but because of the truth in it.

Genesis chapter 1 and Genesis chapter 2, the importance of what marriage really is.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention Genesis 2 · chapter mention

In America today, we don't have a clue what marriage is.

It's not a man marrying a man and a woman marrying a woman, it's a man marrying a woman.

And I went in detail and shared that.

I meant there's no, there is no way you can read Genesis chapter 1 and Genesis chapter 2 and not see that.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention Genesis 2 · chapter mention

You just have to totally neglect the word of God.

Just totally neglect it.

And then last week we went to Psalms 127, verse 1, except the Lord build a house, they labor in vain that build it.

Psalms 127:1

And we looked at those five verses in detail on what your home should be and what it should look like.

And then the finish, actually, this could have been a miniseries within itself, but this whole theme of working out your salvation with fear and trembling out of Philippians 2 has kind of been the groundwork for this whole series since January, so that people can see Christ's likeness in us and be a that we can be a walking testimony for the glory of God.

But today we're going to be looking at the subject Christianity and your school.

Christianity and your school.

Proverbs 22, 6.

Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old.

He will not depart from it.

There is a sense in which none of us ever leave school.

None of us.

Do you realize life is a schoolroom?

It really is.

We are living in a schoolroom every day of our life.

Life is a school in which we are basically trained and fitted for an eternity.

We really are.

We really are.

No one can read the Bible without observing this fact that life is a schoolroom preparing us for eternity.

It really is.

It really is.

And we see that.

In fact, the word of God right here says, train up a child in the way it should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

There are three important facts that I see in this scripture today that's very applicable for us.

Three very important points.

I call it Christianity and the schooling age.

Christianity and the schooling art, and Christianity and the schooling aim.

So let's begin, number one.

Christianity and the schooling age.

Train up a word child.

A child.

When they are young, when they are in their youth.

That's why it is so important that we do what we do around here.

That childhood is the appropriate period for education in one of the most obvious truths of God's word.

And that is, hey, we train our children in three areas.

And let's begin by looking at that.

Listen to what Solomon said in Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verse 1.

Ecclesiastes 12:1

Powerful.

He said, if a man is to be truly trained, and by the way, I really believe this is training must begin in early childhood.

You know what I was thinking about?

As the good example is a little sapling, a little tree.

You know, when that tree is young and you plant it, you can shape that tree any way you want it to go.

You can tie it off, make it grow this way, grow that way, tie it off, make it grow straight, tie it off, make it grow a little backwards or forwards.

Long as it's young, that little sapling, you can shape it any way you want to shape it.

But ladies and gentlemen, once it becomes a grown adult tree, that tree's not going anywhere.

It's what it is.

The way it grew up is what it is.

And I thought to myself, what an example.

The way we train our children and the way they grow up is what they will be for an eternity.

It's so powerful.

So, listen to what he said.

Listen to what Solomon said, the most wisest man ever.

He said, Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth.

Stop right there.

We'll be using that verse.

In the days of thy youth, according to the wisest man, notice what he said.

Childhood, number one, is the age of deepest impressions.

It's the age of deepest impressions.

Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth.

Childhood to youth is the time for that deepest training, that deepest shapening.

It has been well said, earliest impressions last the longest.

Earliest impressions last the longest.

I can still see and hear my papa telling me, hey, sin will take you further than you want to go.

It'll keep you longer than you, hey, want to stay, and it'll cost you more than you're willing to pay.

I can see that.

I can see my papa taking the word of God and saying, oh, that the word of God will never return void.

Oh, in fact, I can see him saying, hey, this Bible will keep you from sin, but sin will keep you from this Bible.

Man, I can see it.

I can remember that impression.

I really can.

And when the Lord Jesus would encourage and teach on the attitudes of humility and growing and learning, listen to what he would say in Matthew chapter 18, verse 3.

Matthew 18:3

I told you to turn, have your Bible marked in Matthew 18.

Listen to what he said.

Well, verse 2, when Jesus called a little child unto him and set him in the midst of them, the disciples.

See, the disciples thought that the children were probably annoying the master, the teacher.

I mean, they were coming from everywhere.

Jesus, they would grab his legs, tug on him, want to be with him and listen to him and hug him, and he'd have them sitting on his knees, two or three of them.

And so the disciples thought in their own minds, well, these children have to be annoying the master.

Let me get them out of here.

And so the disciples started taking, telling the children, go away, go away.

The master, you know, he's trying to teach, teach the adults.

Just go away, go away.

And in that setting, listen to what Jesus said.

Wherefore, therefore, shall humble himself as this little child, he said.

Well, verse three, here's what he said.

Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted and become as a little child, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

And then verse four, he said, Whosoever therefore shall humble himself at this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

But verse three, he's literally saying, Except you and I humble ourselves and come as a little child, we shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Right here in the earliest part of Jesus' ministry, he was showing us how important it is to reach our children with the gospel at an early age.

Amen.

At an early age.

People say, Oh, children can't get saved.

Tell Jesus that.

Tell Jesus that.

If Jesus said you've got to humble yourselves and come as a little child, to me, that's clear biblical truth that you can be saved at a young age.

Can I get an amen?

Amen.

The problem is after they get saved, we don't disciple.

And that will never be true at CCW.

Never.

Why do you think we have children's church?

Why do you think we do a wanna?

We are helping come alongside of you.

It's your responsibility, not the church.

It's you, me, as moms and dads.

But praise God for a church that comes alongside and helps reinforce what you're teaching.

Or hopefully what you should be teaching.

Amen.

Amen.

So, notice the second thing.

Not only is this young youth age the age of deepest impressions, but number two, it's the age of purest innocence.

Remember, notice what he said again in verse Ecclesiastes 12, 1.

Remember now thy creator, while the evil days come not.

Now, while the Bible makes it very plain and clear, and I want you to see this in Psalms 51, verse 5, that a child is born with a sin nature.

Psalms 51:5

A child is born with a sin nature.

Notice what David said.

Behold, I was shapen, formed in iniquity, in sin.

And in sin did my mother conceive me.

We know that.

Also, we know, Psalms 58 verse 3 says, and boy, is this not true?

Psalms 58:3

He says, as soon as a child is born, Psalms 58, 3 says, they go astray speaking lies.

Huh?

The wicked are estranged from the womb, they go astray as soon as they be born speaking lies.

Let me ask you something.

Do you need to teach your children how to be, hey, hey, bad?

Do you have to teach your children how to mind?

Do you have to teach your children how to do right?

So why do you have to do that?

Wouldn't it be so awesome?

Dynamic if your children, when they begin to speak, say, yes, ma'am, no, sir.

Yes, sir, no, sir, yes, ma'am, no.

Please, thank you.

Y'all looking at me like I'm crazy.

That's not what happens.

And today, I know it's a lost art to teach your children to say yes, sir, no, sir, yes, ma'am, no, ma'am, but I still do it at 63.

That's that impression, that youngest impression, and how important it is.

When somebody, when my grandchildren say yes, sir, and no, sir, and yes, ma'am, and no, ma'am, to us, I, you know what?

I take them to the Dollar Tree.

In fact, Braden, and I I don't know if he's in church or staying home with sis with the flu, they know.

In fact, yesterday when I picked him up, uh, as soon as I went and picked him up Friday from school, hey, puppy poppy.

And we got in the car and he said, huh?

I said, sir.

And about that time he said, Oh, are we playing the, hey, are we playing the dollar game?

I said, no, but we're playing the ice cream game.

But but they have to be taught at an early age.

They're so impressionable at the early age.

Oh, it stands a reason, therefore, that childhood is is the age that we teach their mind and develop their mind and not allow their mind to be poisoned.

We're seeing more kids kill each other, shoot each other, gangs and all.

And a large, hey, part of that is coming from these ungodly games and these war games and these shooting games, and all, I mean, hours are putting that poison into our little minds.

God help us.

Can I get an amen?

Oh, the Bible says, let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 2, 4.

And then at this time we see to gain the ear that has not been deafened to the things that are right and to the things that are godly.

He that hath ears to hear, Jesus said, Let him hear.

We're to be training those little ears, teaching them what's right, teaching them what's good, teaching them what's Christ like.

Oh, and then I thought about, and the heart.

We've got to win the heart while they're young before that heart gets hardened.

Oh, the Bible says, guard your heart, for out of it flows the issues of life.

Proverbs 4.23, as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.

And then to control, hey, that will that has not been enslaved by the world, that we teach them that the will of God for them has is to do what God wants them to do.

That God, Jeremiah, I'm about to have a spell.

Jeremiah 29, 11.

Oh, God's got a perfect plan.

It's not evil, it's not bad, it's good if we walk in his ways.

He's got a plan for every one of our children.

Every one of them, a sweet, precious plan.

Oh, ladies and gentlemen, if we could just see, it is easier and better to build a wholesome, hey, youth than to repair damaged adults.

I'm gonna repeat that.

It is better to build a wholesome, godly young man, young lady than years later have to try to repair a damaged adult.

And trust me, Satan is the root of all that damage.

He's come to kill, steal, and destroy, and he's doing a great job at it with these homes.

So we see the importance.

It's the age of deepest impressions, it's the age of purest innocence.

Oh, spirit, there ought to be a spiritual thirst created.

Oh, the Bible says the carnal mind is enmity with God, hostility against God.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

And all these other things shall be added unto you.

But it's also the age of highest interest.

Oh, yeah, during the youth.

Notice what he says again in Ecclesiastes 12, 1.

Remember now thy creator, while the evil days come not, now watch, nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.

If anyone's interest is to be awakened, youth provides that opportunity to create in them an excitement for the things of God.

The challenge of life makes little appeal in the older age.

We've got to reach them while they are young.

The effective age in which to train future men and women is during the age of that deepest impressions, that deepest innocence, and also in the highest interest.

Failure to train a child, and I believe this.

In fact, I was I heard uh uh Dobson.

Remember Dr.

Dobson?

Here's what he said in one of his books on child rare.

He said, It has been said that no animal neglects its young as man does.

God help us.

No animal neglects its young as man does.

What?

Is that not true?

As we look at the juvenile courts, as we look at all the unwed pregnancies, as we look at the drug epidemic, as we look at the gang wars now, going after 10, 9, 10, 11-year-olds to recruit them into gangs.

Why?

There's no home.

They have no home, they have no training.

They have no training right here, right here.

No training.

We see it so vividly right here.

Failure to train a child in the way he should go.

Now, watch this.

This is gonna be powerful.

This is gonna be convicting to all of us.

Failure to train a child in the way he shall go is sin.

Now let me prove it.

I'm not just saying, look at chapter 18, verse 5 and 6.

Look at what Jesus said.

And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receives me.

But look at verse 6.

But whoso shall offend one of the little ones which believe in me, it would be better for him that a milestone were hanged about his neck and that he was drowned in the depth of the sea.

Woe unto the world because of offenses.

For it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to the man by whom the offense comes.

Wow.

Wow.

How convicting.

When I heard that as a young pastor and a young dad, God so spoke to my heart and said, I wanted to raise a home and be a dad that I never had.

I came from a Brooklyn home.

I could have easily gone the other way if it hadn't been for a good friend and godly grandparents.

Thank God for my godly grandparents.

So, Christianity is the schooling age, no doubt about it.

But secondly, Christianity and the schooling art.

Look at the word again.

Train up a child in the way he should go.

The word train there, hanak is a Hebrew word.

It's hanak.

And it literally means to train up, to dedicate, to direct, to teach.

That's what it means.

Now, to teach a child in the way that he should go, and to train a child in the way he should go is two different things.

You can teach without training.

Oh, hello.

You can teach without training.

But you can't train without teaching.

Amen.

That's a difference.

And what I see and what God has taught me over the years, and even more so now in this age, training always includes teaching, but teaching does not necessarily include training.

As the Bible analyzes the word train in a simple threefold manner, here it is.

What is training?

It's a Christian example, it's Christian teaching, and it's Christian discipline.

All three.

America can't stand it.

If we had, hey, raised generations with Christian examples, Christian teaching, and Christian discipline, you wouldn't have rioting in the streets with these young people.

You wouldn't have it.

We say the importance.

Again, let's look at Christian.

This is equally true in the whole church in the world.

Let's look at these princes.

First of all, look at the whole.

Listen to what he says in the pages chapter 6.

What's reports?

Not your children to rap.

Nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Here in this passage.

Have a negative presentation.

Negatively, parents are not to provoke their children to anger.

Not to provoke their children to have desires for worldliness.